Questions and Answers on Individualized Education Program (IEP) Development, The State's Model IEP Form and Related Documents

Miscellaneous Questions - Updated April 2011

The following questions and answers address some of the important issues raised by requests for clarification of the federal and State requirements for IEPs. This document will periodically be updated. This guidance does not impose any requirements beyond those required under applicable law and regulations. This document supersedes any previously issued guidance on this topic.

If you have questions regarding the IEP form and related requirements, you may submit them to the following mailbox: SEFORMS@nysed.gov.

Can the school district bring a draft IEP to the Committee meeting? If a CPSE/CSE develops a draft IEP, must that draft IEP be sent home to the parent prior to the meeting, or can the CPSE/CSE wait and give it to the parents at the meeting?
With respect to draft IEPs, the United States Education Department opined "…we encourage public agency [school district] staff to come to an IEP Team [committee on special education (CSE)] meeting prepared to discuss evaluation findings and preliminary recommendations. Likewise, parents have the right to bring questions, concerns, and preliminary recommendations to the IEP Team [CSE] meeting as part of a full discussion of the child’s needs and the services to be provided to meet those needs. We do not encourage public agencies [school districts] to prepare a draft IEP prior to the IEP Team [CSE] meeting, particularly if doing so would inhibit a full discussion of the child’s needs. However, if a public agency [school district] develops a draft IEP prior to the IEP Team [CSE] meeting, the agency [district] should make it clear to the parents at the outset of the meeting that the services proposed by the agency [district] are preliminary recommendations for review and discussion with the parents. The public agency [school district] also should provide the parents with a copy of its draft proposals, if the agency [district] has developed them, prior to the IEP Team [CSE] meeting so as to give the parents an opportunity to review the recommendations of the public agency [school district] prior to the IEP Team [CSE] meeting, and be better able to engage in a full discussion of the proposals for the IEP. It is not permissible for an agency [district] to have the final IEP completed before an IEP Team [CSE] meeting begins." (Analysis of Comments and Change, Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 156 / Monday, August 14, 2006 / Rules and Regulations, page 46678).

Does an IEP developed in November of 2010 have to be on the new IEP form if the IEP will continue to be in effect through November of 2011? What if the IEP includes ESY services (12-month service and/or program) for the summer of 2011?
A district must ensure that all IEPs in effect for the 2011-12 school year, and thereafter, be on the State form. If an IEP is developed during the 2010-11 school year using an existing district IEP form, that form may be used for the remainder of the 2010-11 school year. However, IEPs in effect for the 2011-12 school year, which begins July 1, 2011, must be on the State form.

Can information from an IEP on a district’s existing IEP form (not a State IEP form) be transferred onto the State’s IEP form for use in the 2011-12 school year?
Yes.

If a district transfers information onto the State form, does the parent need to receive a copy of the IEP on the State form? If so, is this considered a newly developed or revised IEP?
If the school district is only transferring information documented in a prior IEP onto the State IEP form, this is not considered a newly developed or revised IEP and the parent would not need to receive a copy. However, to ensure the parent has the same information as school personnel, it is recommended that the parent receive a copy of the IEP on the new form.

What should a Committee do if when transferring information from a district IEP form onto the State's IEP form, it does not have documentation for all required sections?
The State’s form includes information required by State law and regulation. Therefore, if in transferring information from a current IEP to the State form, the district does not have documentation for all required sections of the State IEP form, the Committee must meet to revise the student’s IEP, using the new IEP form, to ensure a complete and appropriate IEP is in place for the student beginning with the 2011-12 school year.

If a district transfers information onto the State form, does the parent need to receive prior written notice for the use of the new form?
No. Prior written notice must be provided when a district proposes or refuses to initiate or change the identification, evaluation, educational placement of the student or the provision of a free appropriate public education to the student. Transferring information onto the State IEP form does not meet the requirements for prior written notice.

In developing an IESP for a student with a disability who is parentally placed in a nonpublic school or who is home schooled pursuant to section 100.10 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education, must the district of location use the State’s required IEP form?
No. The State did not develop a model IESP form and does not have authority by State regulation to require that the IESP be on a form prescribed by the Commissioner. However, State law requires that an IESP be developed in the same manner and with the same contents as an IEP is developed. A school district that chooses to use the State’s form for purposes of developing an IESP could modify it to indicate it is an IESP.

When a CSE or CPSE has identified that additional data are needed to determine a student’s need for a special education program or related service, the Committee must then arrange for the additional tests and/or evaluations to be administered. In order to fully inform the parent about the proposed evaluation and seek written consent from the parent, the district must provide prior written notice to the parent. Once the evaluations are completed, the Committee must meet to consider the results of the evaluation(s) to determine if the student’s IEP needs to be revised.

There is no statutory or regulatory requirement that a recommendation for a reevaluation be documented in the student’s IEP, except when a functional vocational evaluation is recommended as a transition services activity. A recommendation for a reevaluation is documented in prior written notice to the parent seeking the parent’s consent for the evaluation.

For students (preschool and school age) eligible for 12-month service and/or program, the IEP must indicate the identity of the provider of services only during the months of July and August.

While a municipality, or in the case of a city of one million or more persons, the board, maintains a list of appropriately certified or licensed professionals to deliver related services, the municipality is not the actual provider of service and should not be identified in an IEP as the provider of service. As appropriate, the IEP would identify the July/August provider of a related service by listing the professional title and stating that the professional is from the approved provider list maintained by the municipality, or board (e.g., speech therapist from the approved provider list maintained by the municipality, or board).

For a recommendation for July/August SEIT services, the name of the approved program that will provide the SEIT services is identified and for a recommendation for special class, the name of the approved preschool special education program is identified in the IEP.

How do we note the student’s Itinerant Teacher of the Deaf services in the new State IEP? (Added 4/11)
There is no special education or related service for “itinerant teacher of the deaf services.” A student's IEP must document the recommended service that a teacher of the deaf would provide. When a Committee recommends a special education program and/or service, that recommendation is documented in the Recommended Special Education Programs and Services section of the IEP under the applicable heading (i.e. special education program, related service, supplementary aids and services/program modifications/accommodation, assistive technology devices and/or services and/or supports for school personnel on behalf of the student). While an IEP must identify the special education services recommended for a student with a disability, there is no regulatory requirement that an IEP identify the qualifications or title of the individual providing such services to a student. A teacher of the deaf, for example, may be the teacher who is assigned to provide integrated co-teaching services, a special class, SEIT, a resource room program or a consultant teacher service to the student.